Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 53k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to star formation, including the formation of stars in molecular clouds, the evolution of protoplanetary disks, the role of interstellar dust and turbulence, astrochemistry, and the influence of magnetic fields on the process. It also explores the characteristics of young stellar objects and accretion disks in various stages of star formation.

Star Formation
Molecular Clouds
Protoplanetary Disks
Interstellar Dust
Turbulence
Astrochemistry
Young Stellar Objects
Accretion Disks
Interstellar Medium
Magnetic Fields

Research works: 53k
In the world top 10%: 5.2k
Top-10% rate: 9.8%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: -25%
Largest producer: United States

Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Which countries lead Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research?

By volume, the United States and France publish the most (1.8k and 588 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 1.8k works
2 France 588 works
3 China 539 works
4 Germany 421 works
5 United Kingdom 378 works
6 Russia 305 works
7 Japan 301 works
8 Italy 256 works
9 Spain 225 works
10 India 205 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States1,778 · 35.6%France588 · 11.8%China539 · 10.8%Germany421 · 8.4%6 others listed1,671 · 33.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 327 works
2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 267 works
3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 182 works
4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 181 works
5 Max Planck SocietyGermany 156 works
6 National Institute for AstrophysicsItaly 140 works
7 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 81 works
8 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 70 works
9 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 59 works
10 National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationUnited States 54 works

Who are the leading researchers in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies include P. Jackson, Donald G. Truhlar and Peter John Barnes.

1 P. Jackson France 230k citations
2 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k citations
3 Peter John Barnes United Kingdom 225k citations
4 Douglas Scott Canada 172k citations
5 Sanjit Mitra India 167k citations
6 Duncan A. Brown United States 163k citations
7 Hartmut F.-W. Sadrozinski United States 154k citations
8 Paul Elliott United Kingdom 154k citations
9 Michele Parrinello Switzerland 153k citations
10 Sophie Henrot-Versillé France 151k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

The most cited paper in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies is "Maps of Dust Infrared Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Foregrounds" (David J. Schlegel, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, Marc Davis, 1998), with 15,435 citations. Next come "Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function" (9,158) and "On the variation of the initial mass function" (7,639).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Maps of Dust Infrared Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Foregrounds David J. Schlegel, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, Marc Davis · The Astrophysical Journal Open access	20 Jun 1998	15,435
2	Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function Gilles Chabrier · Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Open access	Jul 2003	9,158
3	On the variation of the initial mass function Pavel Kroupa · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Open access	Apr 2001	7,639
4	The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star‐forming Galaxies Daniela Calzetti, L. Armus, R. C. Bohlin et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Open access	20 Apr 2000	5,835
5	The Global Schmidt Law in Star‐forming Galaxies Robert C. Kennicutt · The Astrophysical Journal Open access	10 May 1998	5,273

All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research done?

The largest centres of Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research in 2022-now are Cambridge (United States), Paris (France), Beijing (China) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nizhniy Arkhyz, Torrejón de Ardoz and Mitaka-shi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 CambridgeUnited States 353 works
2 ParisFrance 260 works
3 BeijingChina 209 works
4 MoscowRussia 159 works
5 HeidelbergGermany 111 works
6 TokyoJapan 101 works
7 GarchingGermany 91 works
8 PasadenaUnited States 90 works
9 TucsonUnited States 82 works
10 BaltimoreUnited States 74 works

Where it is the local speciality

Nizhniy ArkhyzRU · 30.8 works315×
Torrejón de ArdozES · 25.5 works302×
Mitaka-shiJP · 40.5 works298×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies than the world average.

See Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté and Princeton University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged

40%

Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share

10%

Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale

30%

Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%

10%

Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad

10%

Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Harvard UniversityUnited States	67.7	3.3%	18.2×	327	+23.4%
2	Université Bourgogne Franche-ComtéFrance	62.6	21.9%	34.4×	19	-19.6%
3	Princeton UniversityUnited States	61.3	17.4%	12.9×	32	-25.3%
4	Leiden UniversityNetherlands	59.5	16.0%	19.1×	59	-32.4%
5	California Institute of TechnologyUnited States	59.4	14.1%	40.0×	81	-35.0%
6	University of California, Santa CruzUnited States	58.0	18.7%	22.5×	23	-27.4%
7	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	56.7	17.6%	5.9×	40	-55.2%
8	University of GenevaSwitzerland	56.3	18.3%	9.4×	22	-38.5%
9	University of ArizonaUnited States	55.4	16.1%	11.4×	41	-30.6%
10	University of Massachusetts AmherstUnited States	53.9	12.9%	9.4×	18	+19.3%
11	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States	53.7	15.0%	6.0×	24	-16.8%
12	Heidelberg UniversityGermany	53.3	13.9%	8.9×	38	-32.0%
13	University of CopenhagenDenmark	53.3	18.5%	3.8×	20	-6.5%
14	University of California, BerkeleyUnited States	51.8	18.6%	3.7×	20	-45.4%
15	Swinburne University of TechnologyAustralia	51.3	28.1%	5.0×	8	-29.6%
16	University of ExeterUnited Kingdom	50.4	19.2%	6.3×	15	-48.5%
17	University of MilanItaly	49.5	17.3%	2.6×	10	+29.1%
18	Université Paris-SaclayFrance	49.1	14.2%	5.9×	21	-6.3%
19	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany	48.8	14.7%	5.3×	26	-21.7%
20	Columbia UniversityUnited States	48.7	17.8%	2.2×	14	-4.4%
21	University of VictoriaCanada	48.6	17.2%	9.0×	11	-12.8%
22	The University of Texas at AustinUnited States	48.5	17.5%	6.2×	29	-33.4%
23	Queen Mary University of LondonUnited Kingdom	48.5	17.9%	6.1×	15	-18.6%
24	Stanford UniversityUnited States	48.2	11.0%	2.3×	19	+14.0%
25	Université Côte d'AzurFrance	47.7	16.6%	26.5×	21	-22.6%
26	University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States	47.7	18.3%	5.7×	19	-25.4%
27	Université Grenoble AlpesFrance	47.4	13.4%	8.7×	23	-29.8%
28	University of Hawaiʻi at MānoaUnited States	47.3	12.1%	15.0×	19	-9.3%
29	Université de LyonFrance	47.0	16.0%	4.1×	15	-28.1%
30	University of Hawaii SystemUnited States	47.0	19.6%	24.3×	9	-36.5%
31	University of TorontoCanada	46.8	13.8%	2.1×	24	-30.3%
32	University of California San DiegoUnited States	46.4	15.5%	2.4×	13	+4.5%
33	Sorbonne UniversitéFrance	46.3	11.1%	8.2×	32	-21.4%
34	University of VirginiaUnited States	46.3	12.6%	8.5×	30	-32.7%
35	Northwestern UniversityUnited States	46.3	22.1%	2.6×	12	-20.1%
36	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	46.1	16.4%	3.3×	30	-19.4%
37	Australian National UniversityAustralia	45.9	14.8%	7.8×	22	-48.5%
38	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	45.7	18.9%	2.4×	19	-27.7%
39	University of Colorado BoulderUnited States	45.5	11.5%	11.8×	30	-23.8%
40	University of California, Santa BarbaraUnited States	45.3	12.8%	6.2×	11	-26.3%
41	Universidad de La LagunaSpain	44.9	10.9%	41.8×	49	-47.7%
42	University of BernSwitzerland	44.8	13.6%	3.9×	12	-47.4%
43	Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain	44.5	11.0%	3.8×	14	+31.9%
44	Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance	43.3	9.4%	17.4×	37	-21.8%
45	University of FloridaUnited States	40.9	11.5%	2.2×	13	+44.8%
46	The University of Western AustraliaAustralia	40.6	14.8%	5.0×	12	-45.9%
47	The University of TokyoJapan	38.9	8.7%	6.5×	46	-27.7%
48	KU LeuvenBelgium	38.0	11.4%	3.8×	21	-41.8%
49	Weizmann Institute of ScienceIsrael	36.0	1.7%	12.7×	10	+253.0%
50	Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands	35.6	11.7%	3.9×	13	-16.5%
51	Ural Federal UniversityRussia	35.5	3.5%	14.3×	23	+21.1%
52	Yunnan UniversityChina	34.5	5.2%	7.5×	16	+100.7%
53	Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia	34.1	1.9%	8.5×	40	+0.2%
54	Chalmers University of TechnologySweden	34.1	7.0%	13.6×	19	-40.2%
55	Beijing Normal UniversityChina	32.2	5.4%	4.0×	18	+48.9%
56	Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina	31.4	11.9%	0.5×	8	+71.5%
57	Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom	27.4	9.7%	1.6×	9	-28.1%
58	Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina	24.6	4.9%	1.1×	12	+50.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies, country by country

Is Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2016.

grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

Fractional works of Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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Which countries lead Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

What are the most cited papers in Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

Where is Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies?

Is Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion